May 14th Re-Cap

It starts with an idea. “Lets build soapbox cars.” OK.  A week later the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soap Box Federation was born. The rules are simple: 4 wheels have some brakes, no motors or drive trains, no bullshit. Use your imagination, have some fun figuring out how to turn that shopping cart into a badass racecar. We’ve seen other soapbox groups develop in more trendy areas they make very pretty cars. Due to the harsh surroundings of the SFV landscape, the cars developed here took on a more post-apocalyptical appearance. Most of them were made from shopping carts, bicycles, and bed frames scavenged from the alleyways of the SFV.  One the day of our first run we had five cars ready to roll and the very south end of Reseda Blvd. The course was around a mile long, sloping downward at a steep incline with a few soft turns thrown in for good measure. Test runs were clocked in at speeds of 45+ miles an hour. It’s very fast when you’re inches from the ground in a cantankerous contraption that you made out of junk you found in an alley. In addition to the turns and steepness of the course we had two other danger elements: Fog and Traffic. It was so foggy at 7:30 in the AM on Mother’s Day that you could not see but 60 yards a head of you. This of course made the traffic issue an even greater problem. The hillside was being populated by ever-increasing numbers of mountain bikers and hikers, all of which drove up the hill for their weekend warrior endeavors. Not being able to see them before it was too late to react added an additional element of fear to the already addled racers. At the top we had five racers at the ready with about 30 spectators on the sidelines. Once the green flag was waved, the cars quickly gained speed as they disappeared into the fog. At the bottom of the track it was Evil Ed in the Lead with The Carcass in second. One of the racers lost control of their car and crashed into a tree. The car will need to be taken back to the shop for repairs and the driver will be nursing some bruised ribs for a time. This was the first run; we have a monthly race on the second Sunday early in the morning. Check www.tick-one.com or www.choppercabras.org for races times and locations. See you then! 

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